Stranger Than FictionThere's a popular saying among writers: "Kill your darlings." The phrase means that if niblet of precious prose or some other element of the work is too beloved by the author, the work is probably better off without it. But what are the ramifications when those darlings turn out to be people with real lives and real feelings? The distinction between an artist and a "god" suddenly becomes nebulous, as well as the existential shock of whether one's life has meaning beyond merely satisfying the narrative impulses of a higher power.
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Stranger Than Fiction is about a mild-mannered IRS agent named Harold Crick (Will Ferrell), who spends every day the same as the last in his lonely, plain life. He is obsessed with his own efficiency, deriving pleasure from predictability--his sophisticated wristwatch is emblematic of this. His job includes auditing business owners with questionable returns, including the passionate activist and bakester, Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal), whose tattoos and unrestrained attitude clash with Harold's buttoned-down demeanor. Harold's mundane existence is narrated by the disembodied voice of acclaimed author, Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson); and Harold starts hearing her narration one fateful Wednesday while systematically brushing his teeth, as if tuning into a radio station, rightfully disturbed by the voice in his head. Karen's narration is off-putting, inconvenient, and even distracting for Harold, who--like most of us--is unaccustomed to hearing his every thought and action given voice. But Karen's place in Harold's head might have been nothing more than a cosmic hiccup--until she utters the ominous phrase of "little did he know that this simple, seemingly innocuous act would result in his imminent death". Harold's paranoia escalates at this dramatic irony, and he turns to an expert on literature--a kind of "narrative counselor"--named Professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman). Jules takes on the challenge to solve the riddle of Harold's fate after hearing that dire phrase that spells Harold's doom, plumbing the depths of his literary knowledge like an oracle augurs from a crystal ball. Karen's own crisis is concurrent with Harold's; she has been struggling with a crippling bout of writer's block, prompting her publisher to send a personal assistant named Penny Escher (Queen Latifah) to report on her progress and push her to finishing her book in her trademark fashion--by killing her protagonist, which in this case is Harold.
As much as Stranger Than Fiction explores Harold's pending death, the film is more about Harold's life, and how the threat of dying pulls him out of his nigh-comatose existence. Although Ana is initially abrasive toward Harold when he shows up to audit her tax returns, Karen's voice plants the idea that he finds her attractive, making an awkward situation even more complicated. The paradox of Stranger Than Fiction is whether Harold's life would have followed the same course of events without Karen's narration and the threat of his demise, or if it is because of the writer's direct involvement in her creation's existence that Harold's life unfolds in the way it does. Even when Karen's interjections flummox and disorient Harold, it plants the seeds for later events that transform his life in ways that he was too afraid to pursue by himself. At the behest of Professor Hilbert, Harold keeps a pocket Moleskine notebook to record his interactions with Ana, trying to determine whether his "story" is a "comedy" or "tragedy". Coincidentally, this trains the audience to search for similar cues in Stranger Than Fiction--we play the same game as Harold as the film volleys back and forth between the two genres. After Harold is convinced that he is doomed to meet an untimely end at the hands of an indifferent creator, he relinquishes the illusion that he has control over a life that has given him no satisfaction. Instead, he pursues the lifestyle that "he always wanted", including innocent pleasures like learning how to play the guitar. Just as Harold's life undergoes a dramatic paradigm shift, Karen, the author of his misadventures, is herself in wont of a fulfilling life changing experience. She is depicted as a nervous and sullen-eyed misanthrope, who chain-smokes--even in the rain--and fantasizes about all kinds of dramatic ways to die...research for her writing, she claims. Like Harold, Karen does not derive any true pleasure from life, and appears to be dodging the responsibility of finishing her book. Stranger Than Fiction implies that Harold is a fictional construct of Karen's mind; therefore, so is the world he is a part of--which should account for the banality of his everyday life. But it turns out that Harold is not fictional, and Karen has somehow tapped into a godlike power, where she is able to affect the life of a very real person--her typewriter literally rewrites reality. And when Harold and Karen's individual realities intersect, Karen is confronted with the dread terror that she has written herself into a corner, and that a creator has to choose between the responsibility she has to her creation versus the expectations of her audience.
Recommended for: Fans of a charming and disarmingly metafictional mix of comedy and tragedy that approaches themes like the meaning of life and the inevitability of death from a refreshing and occasionally irreverent perspective. Known primarily for his turns as a comedian, Will Ferrell plays against type in a compelling and sympathetic role as a man caught in a metaphorical tug-of-war between his desire to live and the creative imperatives that threaten his existence.
As much as Stranger Than Fiction explores Harold's pending death, the film is more about Harold's life, and how the threat of dying pulls him out of his nigh-comatose existence. Although Ana is initially abrasive toward Harold when he shows up to audit her tax returns, Karen's voice plants the idea that he finds her attractive, making an awkward situation even more complicated. The paradox of Stranger Than Fiction is whether Harold's life would have followed the same course of events without Karen's narration and the threat of his demise, or if it is because of the writer's direct involvement in her creation's existence that Harold's life unfolds in the way it does. Even when Karen's interjections flummox and disorient Harold, it plants the seeds for later events that transform his life in ways that he was too afraid to pursue by himself. At the behest of Professor Hilbert, Harold keeps a pocket Moleskine notebook to record his interactions with Ana, trying to determine whether his "story" is a "comedy" or "tragedy". Coincidentally, this trains the audience to search for similar cues in Stranger Than Fiction--we play the same game as Harold as the film volleys back and forth between the two genres. After Harold is convinced that he is doomed to meet an untimely end at the hands of an indifferent creator, he relinquishes the illusion that he has control over a life that has given him no satisfaction. Instead, he pursues the lifestyle that "he always wanted", including innocent pleasures like learning how to play the guitar. Just as Harold's life undergoes a dramatic paradigm shift, Karen, the author of his misadventures, is herself in wont of a fulfilling life changing experience. She is depicted as a nervous and sullen-eyed misanthrope, who chain-smokes--even in the rain--and fantasizes about all kinds of dramatic ways to die...research for her writing, she claims. Like Harold, Karen does not derive any true pleasure from life, and appears to be dodging the responsibility of finishing her book. Stranger Than Fiction implies that Harold is a fictional construct of Karen's mind; therefore, so is the world he is a part of--which should account for the banality of his everyday life. But it turns out that Harold is not fictional, and Karen has somehow tapped into a godlike power, where she is able to affect the life of a very real person--her typewriter literally rewrites reality. And when Harold and Karen's individual realities intersect, Karen is confronted with the dread terror that she has written herself into a corner, and that a creator has to choose between the responsibility she has to her creation versus the expectations of her audience.
Recommended for: Fans of a charming and disarmingly metafictional mix of comedy and tragedy that approaches themes like the meaning of life and the inevitability of death from a refreshing and occasionally irreverent perspective. Known primarily for his turns as a comedian, Will Ferrell plays against type in a compelling and sympathetic role as a man caught in a metaphorical tug-of-war between his desire to live and the creative imperatives that threaten his existence.